Jessica Wilson Dr. Sherry Foundations of College Writing
This semester I took Foundations of College Writing with Dr. Sherry. In this class we worked on five course objectives that helped us transform our works into those appropriate for certain audiences, used examples from readings to make arguments, and created things in multiple ways using different forms. All of these assignments were very valuable and useful for our future careers. Our class consisted of three main projects, the clue project, the ear project, and the tell project. In the clue project we examined college students and I wrote about the college drinking and included interviews from students I took myself. I talked about the effects of drinking and why so many students do participate in drinking. In the ear project, we transformed the clue project to make it appropriate for certain audiences and changed the genre up. Some things I made during the ear project was a brochure, a flyer, and a satire. Lastly, for the tell project we explained three experiences from the past, present, and future and related them back on what it means to be educated. Overall, I enjoyed all of the works we did in class and find that I will be able to use a lot of the things such as the different forms of media during my career as an early elementary education teacher.
Goal A- Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes
This goal is basically just stating that students will be able to transform information in ways that are appropriate to who is viewing it. I feel like we really worked on this during the ear project. During the ear project we had to transform the information we wrote previously for those appropriate for certain audiences. I transformed my essay on college drinking into a brochure for parents. I chose to make a brochure for parents because I feel a brochure can hold more information and is just more organized than a flyer or a letter. For a possible employer I chose a letter because I feel that is more professional and if an employer receives something addressed to them they are more likely to read it rather than just some random brochure that could be junk mail. Lastly I made a flyer for students because since students are always on the go I feel a flyer is something quick and easy to read and can grab one's attention based off of colors and font sizes All of these forms of works talked about college drinking, understanding why students drink and what effects of drinking does to a college student.
This is an example of the letter I wrote to a future employer:
Another main part of part A is that one is aware of the purpose and not only the audience. Purpose is one of the four PAGE principles we learned about. The other PAGE principals are audience, genre, and engagement. If the purpose is to inform students about drinking then a flyer would work well. If the purpose was to entertain students about the issue of drinking then one could make a satire. Below is my example of a satire which serves the purpose to primary entertain viewers.
Goal B- Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to genre
This goal means that the student will be able to write or present using the style of the form. For the clue project I put headings on each passage which was appropriate for the genre because it makes the paper easy to follow. It not only helps the flow of the paper but it also helps the reader so they can easily find what section they are looking for. I titled the sections problem, background, method, findings, and conclusion. For each section I had different information about my topic on college drinking. For the findings I used my interviews I previously conducted in which I asked students their thoughts on drinking. If a student was just looking for information from students that I interviewed they could easily find the findings heading. These headings also keep the paper well organized and is very appropriate for the type of paper that this is. I feel this project helped improve my writing skills and I can see myself using this technique again in the future.
Goal C- Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments
Goal C is stating that students will be able to read, evaluate, and use examples from readings to make arguments thus give support. For this goal I am also going to use my clue project as my example again. For the clue project we had to find research from other sources. We went into the computer lab and read articles on our topics and had to find certain things that fit nicely with our topic that we could put in our essay for additional support. The 3 ins in the clue project also complete this goal as well. The three ins stand for introduce, insert, and interpret. I had to read my passage and select when I was doing each one of these and put at the bottom footnotes that told the reader when I did each step.
Here is an example of how I integrated a quote into my passage. I got this quote from research and cited it on a works cited page on my last page of my clue project
Studies show, “more specifically, it is not clear how alcohol use is related to establishing new friendships in college”(Grant, 2013, pg 98). This quote is stating that there is no evidence that actually shows that drinking alcohol will result in friendships.
Below in my clue project you can look for the three Ins on the footnotes of each page and you can also find the quotes I found from my research. My Clue Project:
Goal D-Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres
This goal means that students will be able to read and create in multiple ways using multiple forms. An example of this that we did in Dr. Sherry's class is when we talked about the C.R.A.P principles for the ear project. The C.R.A.P principles stand for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. In each of the models done for the ear project we had to include all of the principles. Here is an example of how I used the C.R.A.P principles in my brochure-
Contrast-My brochure shows great contrast because it is simple with only a few colors of red, green, and yellow
Repetition- There is repetition in the font because it is the same style and size. The titles are also all in a bigger font size.
Alignment- Everything is lined up together so it is easy to read.
Proximity- Each grouping contains similar information that goes together nicely. And here is my brochure:
Goal E-Students will be able to discuss and apply appropriate writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts.
This goal is about making sure the students can make revisions both by themselves and with others. After each assignment we had peer review and had to fill out a peer review sheet. I found this to be very helpful because I got to get other people's feedback and got helpful tips on how to improve my work. Dr. Sherry would also email us after each draft what our final grade would be if we handed it in as it is and that was even more helpful because I got to understand exactly what the teacher wanted and it told me if I was doing the assignment right. I also revised my work on my own. I revised my brochure several times after learning about the C.R.A.P principles in more detail, I realized that I needed to make it more organized and neater.
Here is an example of an email I received from Dr. Sherry: After receiving this email with feedback from my professor I went back on my tell project and added more details to each scene especially the future scene. I also linked the stories more closely together on what it means to be educated and added footnotes which I completely forgot to do for the draft. I really liked getting feedback from the teacher because I found it really helpful and it also helped me to fix my mistakes before I handed in the final copy.
My first copy of my brochure looked like this: On my own I then revised this and made it neater and easier to read.
Final copy of brochure:
Overall I really enjoyed this class and feel that these five goals were successfully completed. I now understand the purpose for doing each assignment and will use the things I learned in this class for my further career as a teacher.
Dr. Sherry
Foundations of College Writing
This semester I took Foundations of College Writing with Dr. Sherry. In this class we worked on five course objectives that helped us transform our works into those appropriate for certain audiences, used examples from readings to make arguments, and created things in multiple ways using different forms. All of these assignments were very valuable and useful for our future careers. Our class consisted of three main projects, the clue project, the ear project, and the tell project. In the clue project we examined college students and I wrote about the college drinking and included interviews from students I took myself. I talked about the effects of drinking and why so many students do participate in drinking. In the ear project, we transformed the clue project to make it appropriate for certain audiences and changed the genre up. Some things I made during the ear project was a brochure, a flyer, and a satire. Lastly, for the tell project we explained three experiences from the past, present, and future and related them back on what it means to be educated. Overall, I enjoyed all of the works we did in class and find that I will be able to use a lot of the things such as the different forms of media during my career as an early elementary education teacher.
Goal A- Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes
This goal is basically just stating that students will be able to transform information in ways that are appropriate to who is viewing it. I feel like we really worked on this during the ear project. During the ear project we had to transform the information we wrote previously for those appropriate for certain audiences. I transformed my essay on college drinking into a brochure for parents. I chose to make a brochure for parents because I feel a brochure can hold more information and is just more organized than a flyer or a letter. For a possible employer I chose a letter because I feel that is more professional and if an employer receives something addressed to them they are more likely to read it rather than just some random brochure that could be junk mail. Lastly I made a flyer for students because since students are always on the go I feel a flyer is something quick and easy to read and can grab one's attention based off of colors and font sizes All of these forms of works talked about college drinking, understanding why students drink and what effects of drinking does to a college student.
This is an example of the letter I wrote to a future employer:
Another main part of part A is that one is aware of the purpose and not only the audience. Purpose is one of the four PAGE principles we learned about. The other PAGE principals are audience, genre, and engagement. If the purpose is to inform students about drinking then a flyer would work well. If the purpose was to entertain students about the issue of drinking then one could make a satire. Below is my example of a satire which serves the purpose to primary entertain viewers.
Goal B- Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to genre
This goal means that the student will be able to write or present using the style of the form. For the clue project I put headings on each passage which was appropriate for the genre because it makes the paper easy to follow. It not only helps the flow of the paper but it also helps the reader so they can easily find what section they are looking for. I titled the sections problem, background, method, findings, and conclusion. For each section I had different information about my topic on college drinking. For the findings I used my interviews I previously conducted in which I asked students their thoughts on drinking. If a student was just looking for information from students that I interviewed they could easily find the findings heading. These headings also keep the paper well organized and is very appropriate for the type of paper that this is. I feel this project helped improve my writing skills and I can see myself using this technique again in the future.
My Clue Project:
Goal C- Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments
Goal C is stating that students will be able to read, evaluate, and use examples from readings to make arguments thus give support. For this goal I am also going to use my clue project as my example again. For the clue project we had to find research from other sources. We went into the computer lab and read articles on our topics and had to find certain things that fit nicely with our topic that we could put in our essay for additional support. The 3 ins in the clue project also complete this goal as well. The three ins stand for introduce, insert, and interpret. I had to read my passage and select when I was doing each one of these and put at the bottom footnotes that told the reader when I did each step.
Here is an example of how I integrated a quote into my passage. I got this quote from research and cited it on a works cited page on my last page of my clue project
Studies show, “more specifically, it is not clear how alcohol use is related to establishing new friendships in college”(Grant, 2013, pg 98). This quote is stating that there is no evidence that actually shows that drinking alcohol will result in friendships.
Below in my clue project you can look for the three Ins on the footnotes of each page and you can also find the quotes I found from my research.
My Clue Project:
Goal D-Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres
This goal means that students will be able to read and create in multiple ways using multiple forms. An example of this that we did in Dr. Sherry's class is when we talked about the C.R.A.P principles for the ear project. The C.R.A.P principles stand for contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. In each of the models done for the ear project we had to include all of the principles.
Here is an example of how I used the C.R.A.P principles in my brochure-
Contrast-My brochure shows great contrast because it is simple with only a few colors of red, green, and yellow
Repetition- There is repetition in the font because it is the same style and size. The titles are also all in a bigger font size.
Alignment- Everything is lined up together so it is easy to read.
Proximity- Each grouping contains similar information that goes together nicely.
And here is my brochure:
Goal E-Students will be able to discuss and apply appropriate writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts.
This goal is about making sure the students can make revisions both by themselves and with others. After each assignment we had peer review and had to fill out a peer review sheet. I found this to be very helpful because I got to get other people's feedback and got helpful tips on how to improve my work. Dr. Sherry would also email us after each draft what our final grade would be if we handed it in as it is and that was even more helpful because I got to understand exactly what the teacher wanted and it told me if I was doing the assignment right. I also revised my work on my own. I revised my brochure several times after learning about the C.R.A.P principles in more detail, I realized that I needed to make it more organized and neater.
Here is an example of an email I received from Dr. Sherry:
After receiving this email with feedback from my professor I went back on my tell project and added more details to each scene especially the future scene. I also linked the stories more closely together on what it means to be educated and added footnotes which I completely forgot to do for the draft. I really liked getting feedback from the teacher because I found it really helpful and it also helped me to fix my mistakes before I handed in the final copy.
My first copy of my brochure looked like this:
On my own I then revised this and made it neater and easier to read.
Final copy of brochure:
Overall I really enjoyed this class and feel that these five goals were successfully completed. I now understand the purpose for doing each assignment and will use the things I learned in this class for my further career as a teacher.